The present invention relates to a method and device for transferring book blocks into a transport device belonging to a bookbinding machine, which transport device clamps-in the book blocks.
The earlier German patent application, file reference No. 199 55 993.7 by the same applicant discloses a machine for casing book blocks into book covers by sticking the outer end papers of a book block to the inner faces of the boards of a book cover. In the so-called casing-in machine, the book block is fed, with its back pointing upwards, to a picking-up point by an infeed conveyer. For the purpose of picking up and releasing the book blocks, the infeed conveyer has pneumatically controlled rails which grasp the book block in the region of the fold in order to feed it, according to a cycle and in a manner aligned with the center of the height of the book block, to a gripper in the picking-up point. Under these circumstances, the end papers are spread out for the purpose of being taken over by the gripper which is capable of traveling between a lower and an upper turning-over position, grasps the book block between the spread-out end papers, conveys it out of the lower picking-up point, past rollers for applying an adhesive to the end papers, and into an upper joining point, and unites it with a book cover which is held in position. Folding flaps with suction components take over the boards of the book cover, which is lying flat and is held in position, and transfer them into the upper joining point in a lifting-and-pivoting movement. As the process continues, the folding flaps guide the boards, in a closing movement, first to the outer end papers which are resting against the gripper, and finally to the book block after the taking-over of the book by shaping rails and the release of the book block by the gripper which moves downwards.
The qualitative appearance of a book is determined, inter alia, by the position of the end papers of the book block on the insides of the boards of the book cover. Both the book block and also the book cover are subject to systematic deviations in shape and size, the reasons for which lie, on the one hand, in the prefabrication and, on the other, in the intermediate storage or transport. These may include book blocks which are obliquely cut during block production, book blocks which are warped as a result of storage on a pallet, book blocks which are advanced in a one-sided manner during transport towards the take-over point of the infeed conveyer, or obliquely produced covers as a result of pasteboard parts which are not cut out squarely. The book block and book cover now have to be aligned with one another in such a way that the deviations, which can definitely vary towards different values during manufacture, for example in the event of a change of pallet, are mediated.
This is where the invention starts, with the object of proposing a method and device for transferring book blocks or the like into a transport device belonging to a bookbinding machine, which transport device clamps-in the book blocks, whereby an enhancement of the quality of the products is achieved.